District Leadership / 1/26/2021 Board Meeting Public Comments

Public Comments - 01/26/2021 Governing Board Meeting

Please see below public comments submitted by form prior to the next Governing Board meeting on Tuesday, January 26, 2021. To view each public comment please click on the arrow to open. Click on the arrow again to minimize. The first table includes public comments numbered 1 - 80. The table below it then includes public comments numbered 81-92.

Public Comment 1

Submitted by: brandi marinig

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I wish to stay in hybrid schedule for the remainder of the school year. It is easier on everyone involved and safer until vaccines are more underway at the end of the school year and into the summer. We do not want a repeat of last year with a sudden spike and we are all hopeless online. We are heading in that direction if we go back to in full where I now have 35 a class and going up because they are not bringing back global teachers and instead of filling our classes to the brim. I want to keep teaching, but we must do it safely to ensure a better next year.
Public Comment 2
Public Comment 3
Public Comment 4

Submitted by:Leslie Chartos

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: It is imperative that we remain in a hybrid learning environment until all teachers are fully vaccinated. While it's clear that we will never be fully online again, and while it's also clear that students are not socially distancing outside of the classroom and the concern for students getting Covid-19 isn't high, teachers are still remaining socially distant, staying home when not at school, and desperately trying to keep their families safe. Class sizes are astronomical and if we return back to a normal schedule, teachers are highly at risk of contracting Covid-19. When we were back 100%, exposure letters and quarantined students were through the roof. Please make the correct choice, one that is data-driven (as Covid-19 contraction and deaths continue to rise at an alarming rate) and pays respect to and safety for all teachers and their families.
Public Comment 5

Submitted by: Zoey King

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: Hello 91茄子 Public School Board,
Our numbers continue to be out of control. As a teacher, I am astonished that there is even consideration to go back to full time in person. I know being a board member is no easy task, we are here for the kids, but you also have an obligation to the teachers and staff that work for this district. Already our jobs have been beyond stressful because we never know what our schedule will look like. Working at GHS, there have been 4 exposure emails in the past two weeks - that's just for teachers. We get exposure emails almost daily for students that have exposed us. If you plan on having us work full time in person, then you should absolutely considered putting COVID pay back on the table. I can't speak for everyone else, but if we are risking our health, then the least the district can do is ensure that if we do get COVID that we are covered. I have teacher friends in multiple districts and they have been ensured COVID pay, but also they have been virtual since the start of the school year.
I hope you continue to support teachers in that we stay hybrid. It wouldn't make sense to go back full time.
Public Comment 6
Public Comment 7

Submitted by: Michele Lake

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: The board and 91茄子 Public Schools had ONE job to do. Educate our children. Not placate the teachers. My son has an IEP and you are FAILING to educate my son and countless other children. The science says that children are safer in school. The parents that want to keep their children home full time have the option, to do so, but yet OUR choice to send my child to school to get educated is being hindered. For the love of all, please do your job and get our children back to school. I have a 5 year old that is about to register for kindergarten and I am seriously considering registering him in private school. I know many other parents are pulling their children GPS as well. Where will you be when enrollment is at a all time low and your funding is reduced?
Public Comment 8

Submitted by: Andra Wilson

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Given the high rate of community spread in the area, along with the likelihood that the more contagious strains are probably now in our state, I hope you will decide to continue the hybrid model. Technically, based on all of the parameters, we should be in all online schooling, but at the very least, the hybrid model should be continued until all measurements are once again in the green range. My daughter is very uncomfortable at school given the number of students who take off their masks in the halls, locker rooms, and other areas where teachers are unlikely to see them. Additionally, there is a large number of students who wear their masks under their noses in classrooms, and not all teachers are strict about enforcing wearing the masks properly. I have no doubt that high schoolers are pushing the boundaries on this more than younger students, and it makes for a more dangerous environment. Highland High School has also had far more cases than other schools in the district, and I'm sure this lack of enforcement is contributing to the high rates. My daughter has shared that she feels much less stressed with a hybrid model during this time, as well. I hope you will err on the side of keeping everyone as safe as possible during this time and continue the hybrid schedule.

Thank you,

Andra
Public Comment 9

Submitted by: Christina Finley

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: As a parent of students at Ashland Ranch Elem, South Valley Junior and Campo Verde High I am very concerned about GPS lack of adherence to the guidelines put forth by the state on the ADHS dashboard. With numbers indicating GPS should have been VIRTUAL only for the past month I am confused as to why these guidelines are being disregarded? The group of parents insisting their children MUST be 100% in person only are insisting this regardless of the best interest and safety of all teachers, staff and students and are purely motivated by selfish interests. The selfish perspective of a handful of loud parents should not outweigh the science and facts behind the guidelines and the fact that we are still getting through a world wide pandemic, with AZ representing the #1 hotspot in the US. Please consider the ADHS dashboard/guidelines that other schools in AZ are adhering to rather than catering to upset parents or funding.
Public Comment 10

Submitted by: Colleen Swanson

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: Please keep GPS in a hybrid learning format. It is the safest thing for all of us right now, and it is the absolute best compromise for parents, students, and teachers. And as an addition to the dashboard, I would recommend posting total absences per day along with the number of COVID cases so parents can see the impact the illness is having (quarantining, etc.). Thank you.
Public Comment 11

Submitted by: Laura Lindqvist

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Please reopen the schools especially at the elementary level. At this point my 3rd grader may need to repeat his grade because of the lack of ability to adequately do his work at home since both parents are also working. He is falling further and further behind by not being in the classroom with actual educators. If you need to close the schools individually based on outbreak numbers that is one thing but to keep them all closed or at hybrid level is totally unnecessary and negatively impacting our children.
Public Comment 12

Submitted by: Brandy Vasquez

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I feel like Hybrid lessons are something we should definitely keep doing for awhile. I feel so much more comfortable, as a parent, with less students being on campus at one time. It also makes a lot of the students more comfortable. There is more space to social distance, less crowds in the class room, and lunch.
Public Comment 13

Submitted by: Kristin Diaz

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: Good evening Board Members and Dr. McCord. Thank you for your kind support of our students, staff, and community members by allowing for increased physical distancing and sanitizing in the hybrid model. As Arizona continues to remain first in the nation for our rate of COVID infection, I would ask that you continue the hybrid model for at minimum two weeks into February. This is undoubtedly the safest option for students and staff.

Furthermore, although staff members were meant to be prioritized for vaccination within the 1b group, with Arizona's opening of vaccination sites to those aged 65 and over, many staff members have been unable to secure an appointment for their first vaccine. Many more who were vaccinated at the county locations are unable to find an appointment through February for their second dose. Additionally, with the efficacy of these vaccines taking at minimum 10 days to provide even partial protection, as is the case with the most widely distributed Pfizer vaccine, staff members desperately need this extension to ensure their safety. While the hybrid model is not optimal, it still provides a basis for instruction so that students are able to safely learn both in-person and at home. Please consider what is safest in light of Arizona's high infection rate and the difficulties of the vaccine distribution. Thank you.
Public Comment 14

Submitted by: Jeremy Zona

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: My concern is that faculty/staff have not been fully immunized. Maricopa numbers are still incredibly high. I am still having to submit seating charts for student to student contact. Going back to full capacity without a way to safely distance students when class populations exceed 30-40 or more.
Public Comment 15

Submitted by: Samantha Seery

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: Maricopa county's currently recommended delivery mode is virtual. We have 939 cases per 100,000 people, a 22.7% positivity rate, and 18% rate of hospitalizations. This data is also 2 weeks old and the likelihood that these numbers have gone significantly down is not realistic. I do not believe that we should be moving to full in-person instruction. Part of the board's decision last meeting was that we should be in hybrid until educators get the vaccine. Personally, my first dose is today (1/25). I will likely not get my second dose for many weeks, depending on the availability of appointments. I know many are struggling to get their second doses scheduled. In addition, full immunity after the second dose takes time.

I truly believe that schools should be virtual, but I know our community of parents would never allow that and they seem to have a lot of control over the decisions that are made here, not the health experts. If hybrid is the compromise, then I will take what I can get.

I know that parents are going to be complaining that hybrid isn't working for their child or that their child doesn't understand how to complete the work virtually. I teach sophomores at HHS. I put out a weekly playlist (agenda) every week that explains step by step what we are doing and describes how to access each assignment. I have students who aren't completing their work on their remote days. They are treating their remote days like "a day off from school." This is not a hybrid problem. This is a problem with students' putting in the effort on their own to access learning. This is a problem with students managing their own schedules. I get that some students can't and there are supports for them (IEP and 504s), and for elementary this may be impossible to ask of them, but secondary students should know better. If hybrid is the compromise to keep me safe, we must get students and parents on board.

Here's my last plea for us to move to hybrid instruction. Even though I feel I may be falling on deaf ears, please read my words: the board should use the voice of science to make a decision, not the voice of parents. At the last meeting, there was much discussion about the "mitigation strategies" that we have to keep students and teachers safe, but this is not the reality. We were told we'd see a checklist of cleaning that has been done in our rooms, but I have not seen it. To my knowledge, the only thing cleaning happening in my room is the removal of trash. Those hand sanitizing stations? We have ONE in the entire Hawk Hall building. The cleaning solution we use? It's getting refilled now by a group of students (I'm assuming our maintenance people don't have the time for that. It's great that students are filling the need, but to me this is sounding an alarm about a larger cleaning issue). Masks? Students constantly have them off in the hallways and below their noses in class. Physical distancing? I have a group of 19 on one of the alpha splits. Sports? Those kids aren't wearing their masks while playing when they should. If their sports outfit is on, their mask is off. I've even seen my own administration without their masks in their offices (door open on one occasion), I've seen teachers and coaches walking the halls without their masks. I'm not sure how these practices are keeping me safe. Please, talk to your teachers. My story is not unique. Please take this into consideration when making your decision.
Public Comment 16

Submitted by: Patricia Shores

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Thank you members of the board for hearing my public comment today. I am writing to you as a new employee of the district (11/16/20) and a parent of 2 students that attend 91茄子 Elementary. I want to share our COVID Story. My husband is a police officer for the city of Mesa. In early January, he was exposed to COVID at work, tested positive, and transmitted the virus to me. Because I am a new employee, I did not have sick time to cover the days that I was required by my principal to be out of work. Because 91茄子 Public Schools did not choose to find a way, as many district have, to extend the CARES Act 10 days of paid leave for it's employees, I was required to take 10 days of leave without pay. This has placed a financial burden on my family. Not only were we stricken down with COVID, and my kids were required to be out school, but also, I was required to provide lesson plans, keep up with my classes, all while I was sick with COVID and not getting paid. I know there is more than can be done to help employees through times like this. We were lucky that neither of my children or my elderly mother contracted the virus, because if they would have, I would have had to taken additional leave, with more unpaid days. You can imagine that employees that are new, like I am, or employees without sick time, could wind up in a bad situation quickly. It also worries me that we are considering coming back full in person next week, which will potentially expand exposes for employees and their families, while also not doing anything additional to support employees financially, by extending the CARES Act leave time through other means. I know districts such as Chandler and Florence, have found ways to extend their CARES act too, and I think 91茄子 needs to get to brainstorming and figure out how to support employees and their families, by providing additional paid leave in the case of COVID. I know there's probably nothing that can be done to help me in my financial situation, as I'm already planning to have my pay docked for the time I had to take, but I do want to make sure no one else has to navigate this difficult financial hardship that I have been placed in. Thank you for your time.
Public Comment 17

Submitted by: Amber

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: The community spread of Covid 19 is higher than it was last March and even this summer. Those numbers should be referenced when determining if it is safe for our teachers and kids to go back to school 5 days per week. I want my kids in school fulltime BUT this is a scary disease and making healthy people sick including more and more children. IF parents were being honest and actually testing their kids and not sending them to school when they are sick I would trust the school metrics but I don't. I KNOW they are not accurate. I trust the county metrics that are based on actual testing. The metrics that were agreed upon by the school board at the beginning of the year should be used despite the fact you will upset some parents and possibly lose kids to other districts / charter schools. Health should be #1 priority. This isn't and shouldn't be about money. PERIOD.
Public Comment 18

Submitted by: Krista Cardona

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I ask for the GPS Governing Board to address specifically why they decided to change which metrics they consider when determining in-person vs. virtual learning for the students. In the June 29th email sent to GPS families, it mentioned that GPS would resume in-person learning when AZDHS “Safely Returning to In-Person Instruction” guidelines were met. In December, the Board agreed upon new benchmarks and when schools would shut down. Why the sudden change? It feels a bit like a "bait and switch” - we prepped our students and teachers prepared for in-person learning based upon agreed upon benchmarks and those changed.

Additionally, I want to bring attention to the Board a recent article, just posted 2 weeks ago, regarding the alarming increase in hospitalizations among children 18 and under. While the report can be found in many publications, I specifically linked the U.S. News & World Report Article. Arizona is specifically mentioned in this article, that it has one of the highest rates of pediatric hospitalization in the U.S. More alarming: Arizona saw a 4,000% increase in its pediatric hospitalization rate between June to November. A GPS parent who has a doctorate in nursing and has worked in children’s hospital for years told me today (quote from a text sent to me) “If the pediatric hospitals start to see a surge, they are as unprepared now as they were in March.” This was emphasized by the article: “Our results present concerning trends in pediatric hospitalizations,” researchers said. “Adult, and especially geriatric, incidence of COVID-19 continues to dominate the national picture, but pediatric populations may require resources that are not readily available across the country.”

Finally, as reported by the new CDC director today, there is no accurage count of the number of doses of vaccine the government has in its “stockpile.” The director stated that they cannot accurately communicate with the states the number of doses and so the states cannot plan accordingly. Arizona was once again reported as #1 for being one of the most dangerous states because less than 1% of our population has been vaccinated. I request that the GPS governing board extends hybrid learning through spring break so that the new administration can create a stockpile and more vaccines can get into the arms of teachers, first responders and the older population.

As I wrote to the Governing Board ahead of the early January meeting, I want my kids in school. They do better when they’re on a schedule and they have WONDERFUL teachers. We are so blessed to have a loving and caring staff at my elementary school. I know that there is a wonderful Global Academy that I could enroll them in but my kids want to be in school but I shouldn’t have to IF the Governing Board reverted to the benchmarks agreed upon at the beginning of the year, heeded the advice of our State’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, AZDHS, the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association and many other professional organizations who are concerned with the community spread and our healthcare system stretched to a breaking point.

Respectfully submitted,
Krista Cardona
Public Comment 19

Submitted by: Sheila Smith

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I believe that it would be wise to continue hybrid schedule until all teachers and staff have been vaccinated. It would however be foolish to return at this point and risk an increase in Covid-19 to our teachers. My opinion has changed on this position from the beginning of the year. Our family has had Covid and to see even our 12 yr old suffer through it was enough to convince me that the hybrid schedule as it is working should continue.
We are however struggling with our 10yr old daughter who currently has an IEP but not one strict enough to go daily. I do feel that situation needs to be re-evaluated for her sake and continued growth and education.
Thank you.
Public Comment 20

Submitted by: Karen Maas

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Good Evening Board, I am both a parent and a teacher in the district. I am concerned that the system for recording or measuring Covid-19 at the schools is inaccurate. I have had multiple students out quarantining and the dashboard indicates 1 student at GCA. I spoke with the school nurse and she mentioned that the methods for reporting can be confusing to the parent community. My own 2 students have indicated that students in their grade are at home on quarantine. The numbers on the school dashboard do not reflect this. I believe we are much closer on getting essential members in our community vaccinated and we should continue with the Hybrid (A-L, M-Z) schedule through spring break. The Hybrid schedule will allow students, families, teachers to interact with fewer potential exposures until more of our community is vaccinated. The hope would be to reduce the number of positive cases of covid-19 and lessen the strain on our overburdened healthcare system. Thank you for your time and commitment to our GPS schools.
Karen Maas
Public Comment 21

Submitted by: Keri Priest

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: My son is struggling both academically and socially with the lack of classroom time and the disorganization of the implementation of the hybrid model. He is in 8th grade with a lot of family support. I cannot imagine how challenging this is for families with younger students and/or single parent households and/or dual income households trying to support their students. While I understand the concerns surrounding COVID, I am becoming increasingly concerned with the consequences of the hybrid model and/or online learning. If the Board continues to support these models we will be making a different choice for our son going forward.
Public Comment 22

Submitted by: Rebecca McHood

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: AZ has had the most pediatric hospitalizations from the virus. It seems the virus can cause long term health complications. The virus is widespread in the community. Please go back to the metrics you used when school started and follow them. Please keep on campus attendance at a minimum - only children of essential workers or those who need special interventions - to maximize safety for the community. I pulled my 7th graders out when you abandoned the county heath guidelines to follow Carr's feelings. You broke my trust that you cared about the health and safety of my children. Once everyone who wants a vaccine can get one (hopefully there'll be an approved youth vaccine by then) I'll reveal reenroll them but I'll hold onto the knowledge that GPS cannot be trusted to be truthful about health concerns or to follow county health guidance. You've damaged the fabric of our community by needlessly putting children and educators in danger of long term health issues and death. Worse, you've done this while quilty scientific data about airborne spread has been easily accessible. Do better. Grow hearts and exercise care about the lives of those under your stewardship please.
Public Comment 23
Public Comment 24

Submitted by: Andrew Gonzalez

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: Hello, I am the music teacher at Mesquite Elementary. I'm writing to the board to implore you that as a district we are not ready to fully reopen. in my classroom, only 17 students fit inside when following CDC social distancing guidelines. As of Friday Jan. 22 91茄子 Public Schools is still not a Point Of Distribution (POD) for vaccine candidates. Scheduling a vaccine appointment is still difficult and there is a real risk that there won't be enough vaccine for people ready for the 2nd dose. There is also no public data tracking how many GPS employees have received the vaccine. We cannot be ready to move from hybrid until we KNOW we are ready. GPS and the community at large are not ready for full, live instruction.
Public Comment 25
Public Comment 26

Submitted by: Michael Alan Priest

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: My son is very intelligent, respectful, kind and athletic. That notwithstanding, his inability to be full-time in-person has had a psychological impact on him that I haven't seen before. Interaction with his peers, all of them, is important to his mental and social growth. The hybrid learning model is also not working. It is clunky and not challenging at all. Schools are one of the safest places for kids to be, even safer than at home. Please don't continue to put our kids' mental and academic health any more at risk. Please allow them to come back to school full-time.
Public Comment 27

Submitted by: Anonymous

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: Please consider looking at the current health specs of the state of AZ. It is not safe to return to full in person school. At the beginning of the year you made a promise to students, parents and staff members of 91茄子 Public schools to continuously look at the health specs and at least 2 of the 3 had to be in green. Currently none of them are green. This promise has been ignored. We are aware that the vaccine has been made available to many, but a vaccine does not mean you can and will not get sick. It is simply an extra step to stay safe. However, there are many, especially staff, who cannot get the vaccine; therefore, those staff members will be at greater risk if returning to full in person school again. Please consider extending hybrid learning at the least, and if possible, go fully virtual. It is more important than ever to keep everyone safe! Lastly, please do not ignore the fact that staff members, especially those who work directly with students matter. Our opinions matter! Our lives matter!
Public Comment 28
Public Comment 29

Submitted by: Jill M Rucka

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Please return kids to school in person, full time starting Monday, Feb 1st. Hybrid does not work for my kids who normally excel in their classes. They are now lost, confused, and trying to teach themselves how to do their math via youtube videos... this is NOT right. On top of the educational deficiencies, the emotional and mental aspect of this situation can not be overstated. If all our neighboring districts can do it (which they have) so can we. Enough is enough. Every day at home is another wasted day of no education for these kids. They deserve better. Thank you.
Public Comment 30

Submitted by: Lisa Elcock

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: With positive COIVD percents still at our above 20%, full in-person instruction should be reconsidered. Students cannot appropriately social distance in a classroom of 30-35 students while we CAN distance with half the class. With an influx of students emailing teachers asking for work as they are quarantining at home due to family members with COVID, allowing those exposed students to enter the classrooms would be irresponsible and unethical. The instruction can be given more appropriately if we are totally virtual to be honest. Teachers have had WAY more practice/training/exploration on virtual modes of teaching and we are far better at it now than we were in Aug. Hybrid days do allow us to distance but we are only reaching half the students each day. If we were fully virtual, we could reach ALL the students EVERY day. But if full virtual is not an option in the Board's mind, then Hybrid should be extended until the surge of COVID subsides with time and vaccinations. Hospitals are still overwhelmed with COVID patients and inviting large groups of students, who have potentially been exposed, into our classrooms where they cannot distance appropriately, and they need constant reminders to wear their masks appropriately (and sometimes reminders to wear their mask in the first place) is asking for the surge to continue and for more staff to be out sick until their vaccine is fully effective- should they even choose to get the vaccine. While many people may only fall ill for a few days, can you really look your staff in the eyes and tell them it's OK if they lose a student or a coworker or even their own family members? While many are doing their part to stay safe, many are not and they are putting other lives at risk. Is full in-person learning really worth the risk of losing more people? Or could we stay safe while offering education in a modified way like fully virtual or Hybrid mode still? While I do believe our district's mitigation strategies are being practiced more consistently, are not stopping the spread in our schools with these strategies. There are still too many factors outside the district's control.....the instructional model of remaining Hybrid or going back to full virtual IS something the district can control. Thank you for your time.
Public Comment 31

Submitted by: Ariana Solomon

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am writing to request that students return to full time in person learning. The hybrid schedule has been so changing for my son and our family. I am a nurse and my husband works in the plumbing industry. We both work full time and are unable to provide any learning/assistance to him during the days he is not in class. Multiple districts in our area are back to full time in person learning (Higley, Chandler and Mesa districts) Teachers have been able to schedule/receive the Covid vaccination for 3 weeks now. Our children have sacrificed so much over the past 12 months, please allow their spring semester to be more consistent/normal. Please consider returning to in person learning!!
Public Comment 32

Submitted by: Stacy Daskam

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I realize the board has been trying to keep the community safe as well as appease as many concerned parents as possible. GPS has done a thorough job of cleaning, using masks, and distancing. However, students need to be back in school full-time. There is not enough justification to keep students out of school even in hybrid. If there are families who are that concerned about their children, then GPS has generously offered the Global Academy. As a working parent (GPS employee) with kids in 91茄子 schools, not only do I need the kids in school so I can be at work but THEY need it for their emotional and educational well-being. There are other valley schools that have been successfully consistent full time. We need to follow that lead and get back to normal, allow parents to return to work, and students to return to learning in the classroom....please!
Public Comment 33

Submitted by: Kadi Strong

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am appreciative the district has kept our kids in school despite so much negativity from a small portion of teachers. It has been evident that the spread is low in the schools as most infections seem to stem from outside gatherings without masks. Additionally, as this pandemic continues, it is imperative that we learn to safely live within this world, and I can say that my two boys are less depressed and more academically motivated since returning to in-person school. Hybrid is working well for our family and full in-person also works well. Online was horrible for us. I saw a complete lack of motivation and also decreased subject comprehension. Without access to teachers in-person, my kids don't ask as many questions, nor do other students. So much learning happens just from teachers answering questions.
Lastly, I am frustrated with the lack of professionalism from so many of the teachers posting on the public gilbert teacher's facebook page. There are uneducated comments, comments that only cause yet another division in our community, and overall a negative condemning of the district which I believe to be wrong and defaming of the prudence this district has shown in all their efforts to keep our kids safe.
Thank you to the board for not making decisions on fear nor steering away from the goal of teaching our students while also implementing safety measures to minimize exposure.
Public Comment 34
Public Comment 35
Public Comment 36

Submitted by: Alicia

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: It is time for the children to be back in their classrooms everyday, so that they can enjoy the most normal rest of the school year as possible with the best learning environment. Please vote to end the hybrid schedule and allow the students to attend their class together.
Public Comment 37

Submitted by: Deborah Sheppard

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I know you have heard most every argument. Just commenting to say I fully support in-person learning. My children sorely need in-person consistency and actual learning. They are depressed and falling behind despite my best efforts along with work. I feel they are as safe as possible in their school environment.
Signed, a frontliner nurse.
Public Comment 38
Public Comment 39

Submitted by: Shannon Jauregui

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: I think it is imperative that we make data based decisions on our return to learning. While our case numbers may be "low" within a school, that is because we have been in a Hybrid model. Hybrid model has been what's keeping our students and staff as safe as possible without being completely virtual. To see "low" case numbers within a school is not a reason to return to fully in person, rather a reason, to continue to do what we are doing because we know it is somewhat working. All data still suggests we shouldn't be in schools at all, we should be virtual. We are already risking the health of staff and students by being in a Hybrid mode, to go back fully in person, could result in a more of a spread, an outbreak, and then a school or schools having to go virtual which is what it seems like the board and the public are trying to avoid. Until all teachers willing to be vaccinated are vaccinated or until the public is willing to follow mitigation strategies hybrid is the best response we have to showing our teachers and staff that we do care about their health and safety.
Public Comment 40

Submitted by: Jeanine Salo

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: With the new strains of covid coming out and not knowing what it will bring with children, why are you reopening and not staying with hybrid? I just think this yo-yo school or starting full weeks snd then oopse hybrid again, nope back to full weeks is hurting the kids more then just stay on 1 schedule. As parents this is hard on us to go to work nope back to 2 day work nope back to 3 day work, and finding daycare. It’s to much I vote stay with hybrid and stop moving the days! The kids are learning nothing with this snd teachers are jumping through hoops.
With this need virus version we don’t know what to expect and your playing Russian Roulette with the kids!
Public Comment 41

Submitted by: Jeff Meintzer

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: I think Hybrid should continue long enough that all teachers have had a chance to receive both vaccinations for Covid 19 and the vaccinations have had a chance to give maximum protection. I would say Hybrid through February.
From a community standpoint, it could be argued that even the end of February is too soon. Schools are supper spreader events. Students do not wear their masks appropriately due to their immaturity. In class they are good, but not during their lunches and at sports practices. I know this for a fact. I teach at 91茄子 High. Until the public in general has had a chance to receive their vaccinations our schools should probably remain on Hybrid. Please remember ADHS (our state government) is currently recommending Virtual schooling at the present time while GPS is considering going in the completely opposite direction.
Public Comment 42
Public Comment 43

Submitted by: Sarah

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Dear Dr. McCord and Governing Board Members,
I would like to first take a moment to thank you for making difficult decisions for our district that should have been made at the state level. I realize these decisions weigh heavily on your hearts and minds just as they do ours. I would also like to express my appreciation for the decision to continue hybrid until the end of January at the very least. I think it is important to note that Covid is, unfortunately, still running rampant in our state. Numbers continue to be at record highs. If it isn't already obvious, I do believe we should stay hybrid for a while longer or until Spring break at the latest. Following county and state metrics makes sense, especially since we are seeing more and more cases within our community. As a teacher, I have received my first dose of the vaccine but have yet to have any luck scheduling my second dose. Based on what I have heard and read there seems to be a shortage of vaccines. I know the district is working tirelessly with the county to become a POD for our staff members. However, it sounds like what 91茄子 might potentially offer is the other vaccine. It has have been advised not to mix and match the two. With that being said, I still don't feel 100% safe even with the mitigation strategies in place. My students struggle to keep their masks on properly and no matter how many times we review correct handwashing procedures and how to properly apply sanitizer, they still aren't doing a great job with it. As a parent, I have received 2 letters of exposure from my daughter's class in the past two weeks. So even if I am doing everything I can to stay safe, she is also being exposed. I agreed to have both of us come back in September when we were promised the district would follow the county and state metrics. As of right now, those metrics say we need to be online. I know online is not ideal for everyone which is why I am asking that we continue hybrid at the very least. I realize there are several community members who have been loud as of late, but they aren't in the classroom every day. They don't see how often we are having to send kids home because they have come to school sick. They don't see how difficult it is to truly enforce the current mitigation strategies. They don't understand how challenging it is to keep up with the ongoing absences of students. Yes, we will have those things in hybrid as well but they are so much less stressful to deal with when we have smaller groups. I beg of you to please keep us hybrid until the numbers start going in a consistent downward trend and we become green in the metrics put forth by azdhs and the county. Thank you for your time.
Public Comment 44

Submitted by: Meagen Winter

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: Hi I’m Meagen Winter, Former parent of 5 GPS graduates, Citizen, Employee and Friend of many in this great town.

I received my 1st Dose of the Vaccine. Yay. Many teachers are scrambling to get vaccinated as well. Please consider this when making decisions about openings and closings. Although vaccines for teachers have started, it is going to take longer to get them to the high effective rate protection

I appeal to the board to follow the metrics that were promised to the employees. Employees were told these are the mitigation measures and metrics that we will follow. Decisions of continuing employment in the current capacity or trying to change position locations were made with those mitigations and metric measures.

I don’t go out in public very often. But what I hear and little bit I see there are still some resistance to following safety measures- masks in particular and large gatherings. Hopefully, the communities will come together and do our part.

As for mitigation measures, in my many hats I wear and communications with the general public, educators, and friends there is still frustration. Different schools are following mitigation measures differently. These include, mask wearing, cleaning, social distancing issues with staff and students. This also includes supplies not given as promised. I have encouraged the people I have communicated with to talk to supervisors, teachers, or whoever would be in charge of the area needing attention. I don’t know if it is because of the times we have been experiencing but trust something that I believe is broken and needs mending. There is a fear of retaliation.
In addition, I hear the dashboard numbers are not matching what parents and teachers have first hand knowledge. This is hearsay and I know that. Again, I encourage what I hear to be reported by the sources.

We have a hotline for school threats, safety of students Could it be possible to consider adding Covid concerns to this or creating another hotline?

My daughter is the Grand Canyon University Covid Specialist. The dashboard they run has an auto feature of entering dates and kick out of the dashboard dates. It is a simple tool and does not require “ a lot of wasted time” to keep track.

Our district nurse already has a huge job as well as everyone else. If the Covid emergency funds could not cover the cost of extra staffing, perhaps some duties could be temporarily reassigned to complete. There may be a school that has a health assistant that can be trained to do the data entry once a day. Or another classified or certified staff that can be reassigned x amount time to respond or review the hotline and gather information to the correct people.

Thank you for any considerations.
Public Comment 45

Submitted by: Priscilla Kostura

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I have two children that attend the GPS district. Both of my children are scared to attend in-person school during this COVID-19 outbreak. They dislike being forced to attend in-person classes and especially dislike being forced to eat lunch around other un-masked children. That itself posses risk of spreading the virus.

We watched the last GPS board meeting and took note of the comments concerning the budget. One comment stated “My primary concern is the operating budget and we need the revenue from the children's in-person attendance.” I have an MBA in Finance. You are worried about your fixed salaries not being paid. You are worried about the ancillary staff not being paid and not having alternative work. My children are at risk of contracting COVID—19, a deadly lung-destroying virus, and you’re primarily concerned about your operating budget. I demand that you require online attendance until phase 3 (the last phase) community vaccinations are available to the general public. I don’t want to send my children to school at this time, nor do they want to attend in-person classes at this time. Get a loan, take pay cuts, and stop being so unethical when making decisions. Thank You.
Public Comment 46
Public Comment 47

Submitted by: Jonette Pettyjohn

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I believe there are many individuals loudly arguing for returning to a normal school schedule for our students. However, the numbers having climbed to an alarming level (higher than summer of 2020), I believe the district has a duty to protect the health of its students, staff and families over honoring the desires of some. I have a senior in high school and while we are saddened at the diminished experience of his senior year, we also understand that protecting human life is a higher priority and greater social responsibility than preserving the senior experience. I only ask that you follow recommended health guidelines and until school dashboard statistics are out of the red that the district adheres to the recommended protocols and remote learning, or at the very least a hybrid model. If even the death of one student, staff, or family member can be prevented that it is worth it.
Public Comment 48
Public Comment 49

Submitted by: Peg Brown

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Board Members, It is critical that schools return to 5 day in person. The hybrid model effectively leaves children without access to their teachers every other day. On days they have on-line learning, their teacher is teacher in school to the other kids (M-Z). This leaves them without adequate support for the material they are trying to learn throughout the day. Assignments are expected to be turned in without any additional aid provided by teachers. My child is in the Honors program, which is fast moving. It's very hard to stay on tract without the proper amount of time devoted to learning and adequate access to teachers for support. We must return to a 5 day schedule so that our kids don't continue to fall behind.
Also, Club baseball has continued to play since September without any Covid Issues. Please take this into consideration when you consider the Spring sports schedule.
Public Comment 50

Submitted by: Tricia Nelson

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: The school board has failed to follow the guidelines regarding COVID-19 from the start and I'm sure once again you are going to vote on the side of the "go green" shirt parents. HOWEVER you need to read and listen to the students who are in school every day. My son tells me all the time how the kids don't wear the mask correctly no one is social distancing and as for washing hands that is a joke. WE MUST keep the schools on a hybrid schedule. Not everyone is able to get the vaccine right now and kids can't at this point. You need to STOP going with one group of parents and do what's right for all of the kids. I'm a single parent and currently my employer is allowing me to work from home. HOWEVER I have too many family members with issues and we can't see them since my son is back in school. I have watched these meetings and I see that they are full of the SAME parents parading their children in front of you saying we need in person learning. THIS must stop we need to continue the HYBRID schedule for the safety of all the children and families.
Public Comment 51

Submitted by: Ashley McLaren

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Thank you for supporting our students being in school 5 days a week. After nearly a year of inturpitions in schooling we have a vaccine available and a way to track cases on campus. We need to be in school 5 days a week as a public service. This is our role and our obligation. Treat each school individually and keep instruction consistent. The virus is here to stay and we must adapt or die as a district. Teachers who wanted the vaccine have had the opportunity to get dose 1 with dose 2 not far behind.
Public Comment 52

Submitted by: Parul Naik

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I would like the board to consider either changing to all virtual learning or at the least to continue with hybrid learning in our schools. Covid numbers are not going down at this point and it would be irresponsible to continue with all students full time.

Even if all teachers received a vaccination by January 29th, it still takes up to three weeks to build up immunity. Also the second dose would need to be taken for full efficacy. After the second dose it takes up to two weeks for the vaccine to take effect. This is only IF teachers are able to get an appointment to receive the vaccine and also get an appointment for the 2nd vaccine. Anyone that has tried to make an appointment knows that it is nearly impossible to get an appointment at a normal time. The only available slots were somewhere between midnight and 4am on weekdays. This makes it somewhat difficult to get the vaccine and come in to work without requesting a substitute.

Supposing a teacher receives the vaccine on the 29th of January and receives the second dose around February 19th then it would be around spring break when maximum immunity would be reached. At the least all schools should be in hybrid learning mode until after spring break. Ideally with the Covid numbers we have in this state, we should be in all virtual learning.

Thank you for your time.
Public Comment 53

Submitted by: Jodi Ivy

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I have already expressed my strong view (in an email directly to the board) that the district should continue hybrid instruction until the end of this quarter. However, I also want to address the daily update method to the data dashboard in that it appears to be daily "new cases" rather than cumulative active cases, which skews the data and reduces the percentage. There cannot be 6 active cases one day and then just 2 the next day. Yet this is what I see in the daily updates for GHS. (as a for example). 4 cases that were reported previously did not miraculously recover in a single day. This method leads to false security. The county data (updated weekly) is more reliable which shows our district at 10-15 times the recommended values for hybrid person learning (and even more for full time learning). Also this is the data the district originally agreed to base its decisions on. Please return to doing so. Thank you.
Public Comment 54

Submitted by: Elise Millsaps

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: My kids are suffering. Going to school two days a week and doing busy work at home 3 days a week is not working. My kids are falling behind and not getting the instruction they need. The craziness of the schedule causes them anxiety and stress. These kids are DONE with the flip flopping decisions of the board. And I am done watching them struggle and deal with the stress. Please follow the leadership of a district like Queen Creek who has made their children, academics, and mental health a priority and have found a way to continue to KEEP their kids in person school FULL TIME this ENTIRE time. There are options for those who wish to stay home.
Public Comment 55

Submitted by: Concerned Parent

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am concerned that GPS may be returning to full in-person teaching/learning too soon. Based on the ADHS Dashboard (with reporting that is ~2 weeks delayed), the # of cases/100k individuals is at record levels (nearly 10x the number suggested to trigger the move to virtual), the % positivity is 22.7% (more than 2x the number suggested to trigger the move to virtual), and 18% COVID-like illness leading to a hospital visit (almost 2x the number suggested to trigger the move to virtual) and climbing. There is nothing in those numbers to suggest that we are in a better position than when the decision was made to be in hybrid instead of in-person.
Additionally, some of the modeling done by Athena Foundation shows a clear correlation between increased community spread and students (at least HS students) being in-person for their learning.
Yes, many/most teachers will have had their first dose of the vaccine at this time however many/most are unlikely to have had the second dose yet and may not be able to until March when additional supply of the vaccine is available.
I will concede that the learning is different when students are at home for virtual or hybrid teaching/learning but it isn't as if all learning stops or our teachers aren't doing everything they can to support the students.
I also don't think it is wise for the district to send out an email update about plans prior to the board meeting taking place where presumably a conversation about this decision would be taking place - it puts the board in a tough position and only fosters additional discontent in the event the board chooses something other than what the district email just sent out. Having an email ready to send out early Wednesday morning makes a whole lot more sense to me.
Public Comment 56

Submitted by: Sheila Smith

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I believe that it would be wise to continue hybrid schedule until all teachers and staff have been vaccinated. It would however be foolish to return at this point and risk an increase in Covid-19 to our teachers. My opinion has changed on this position from the beginning of the year. Our family has had Covid and to see even our 12 yr old suffer through it was enough to convince me that the hybrid schedule as it is working should continue.
We are however struggling with our 10yr old daughter who currently has an IEP but not one strict enough to go daily. I do feel that situation needs to be re-evaluated for her sake and continued growth and education.
Thank you.
Public Comment 57
Public Comment 58

Submitted by: Emily Jastrow

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: AZ is still experiencing community spread of covid-19 at alarming rates. Hospital systems are about to declare ‘crisis care’ standards. They’re out of equipment & staff. Continuing Hybrid is the responsible thing to help them avoid this.

Additionally, Mr.Carr’s assertion that immunity reaching 80% after one vaccine dose is woefully inaccurate according to Pfizer. It’s 52%% but the Pfizer trials were never intended to assess the efficacy of a single-dose. His comments at the last meeting were deceitful at best and disingenuous at worst considering he was directly questioned on the statistic by Ms.Humphries. Additionally, vaccine appointments are full through the end of February. Unless you have an alternate source for procuring and administering them you’re doing more community harm than good at this point.

I get it, hybrid is hard for families, including ours, but our friends working on the front lines are reaching their breaking points with no end in sight. I’d much rather err on the side of caution which is what the leadership of our hospital systems has made clear is needed. Funding (money) should not be the guiding principal here. Common sense, up to date statistics (not weeks old like you utilized in the last meeting) and leadership should be. You’re setting a terrible example of bending to the will of a loud few as opposed to being real leaders. The kids are watching.
Public Comment 59

Submitted by: Charlene Fujino

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Hello Dr. Santa Cruz, GPS Board, and Dr. McCord:
I have been a teacher for 34 years, 23 of them in GPS, all at GHS. When I arrived here in 1998 from the East Coast, things were very different for me. I came from a place of family and neighborhood schools. I entered GHS and thought is was the district office! I was so impressed. Dr. Santa Cruz hired me, and will forever be in his debt. I learned that this district cared about everyone, students, families, teachers and staff. They welcomed all. They cared about everyone. As member of the GHS family, I attended weddings, funerals, student events, food distribution lines, parades and employee gatherings. 91茄子 grew so fast when I came on, but they never forgot their small town ideals. I love this place.
With that said, I think it is an error in judgment to return full time with all students next Monday. We are in a global pandemic, a full on war against a virus that we are just now learning more about. We have the blessing of being able to teach students in a hybrid fashion; many districts do not have that option. I think we should utilize that model until Spring Break or until our positive testing numbers fall below 10%. I am not a doctor or health care worker but I do read and try to analyze data on my own. While hybrid is not ideal, it is an additional protection for your stakeholders.
Please find those small town ideals and value your school community. Those are what brought all of us here, and it’s why many of us have stayed so long. How our community has been treated during this pandemic in my opinion is questionable. Value your students, teachers and hard working custodians, food service persons, and drivers. Please allow us to continue in hybrid for the safety of all of us.
I appreciate all of you and the hard decisions that you make each day.

Char Fujino
Public Comment 60

Submitted by: Mellisa Johnson and Jacquelyn Kahldon

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: Dear 91茄子 Public Schools Board,

While I understand the difficult situation the COVID-19 pandemic is putting everyone in, I do not feel it is yet safe for full-time in-person learning to resume.

Teachers such as myself have worked hard to ensure students are as successful as possible during the pandemic and have been able to find a safe routine for everyone. I do not believe it is safe for full-time learning until at least all instructors have been vaccinated by the full dosage. I myself have had the first dose, but do not feel comfortable until I have had the second dose. However, not everyone has been able to receive the first dose, and those that have received it are having a hard time scheduling their second one.

This is a time to review the scientific data and ensure not only the students are safe, but the teachers and their families are as well. Please keep hybrid learning for the rest of this quarter until more teachers are vaccinated and can be better prepared for full-time in-person learning.

Thank you!
Public Comment 61

Submitted by: Kelly Shiflett

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Governing Board members,

First, I want to thank you for your service. As I watch the meetings I can clearly see that each and every one of you cares about our students. I appreciate that you have been doing the best that you know how to do during covid-19. My heart goes out to you everytime I hear someone make a rude comment. No one deserves that kind of treatment, especially you.

Second, I would like to advocate for in person learning. You know as the reasons parents have put forth, so I will just say this. I have 4 children at Canyon Rim. My children have always loved school and excelled. They dread at home school days. Everyday they yell at me about doing their school work. It is a given that they will yell, although this time around has been much better than the first time. We love our teachers and school tremendously. They are doing an amazing job, but my kids are just not learning as well as they could be in person. My 4th grader literally jumps for joy or has a meltdown everytime you make a decision that so greatly affects his life. Please keep us in person.

Finally, have you considered surveying the staff again, as you did last summer? Things have greatly changed since then. I know the GEA is advocating for virtual learning, but how many teachers are represented by them? Surveying the staff may give you a better idea of where all the teachers stand, because their opinions matter just as much as parents'.

Thank you again for all you do. We love 91茄子 Schools.

Kelly Shiflett
Public Comment 62

Submitted by: Danielle Heinle

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I would urge the board to reconsider coming back to a full in person module until after the majority of the teachers and staff members have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccination. I still fear that having a full capacity classroom will become another opportunity for the virus to spread and infect more people. I am not in agreement with the decision to return to the five day in -person module while our county, state and country is still in the peak of it's infection rate. I do see first hand the benefit of the staggered hybrid model of learning, with lowering the population on campus. Thank you.
Public Comment 63

Submitted by: Ted Gibson

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I, as well as many other parents and staff members, have received numerous form letters informing us of positive Covid-19 cases on our campus or on our students' campus. While these letters are helpful and appreciated they include some erroneous information that needs amending. The penultimate paragraph of the notification letter begins:

"91茄子 Public Schools is following all recommendations from the Maricopa County Department of Public Health to stop COVID-19 from spreading in our workplace and in our schools."

This is both false and misleading. The MCDPH has published their recommended learning scenario for 91茄子 Unified School District as "Virtual With Onsite Support" since December 24th, but the Governing Board specifically voted NOT to follow their recommendations. Additionally, the MCDPH has also recommended a distance of six feet between students and staff since July 22nd. This recommendation has also been ignored in many classroom settings.

In addition to the errors in the COVID-19 notification letters, there are also serious errors in the "School by School Temporary Hybrid Model" approved by the Governing Board. The GPS Health Services Department proposes that they are monitoring the "Percent of active cases of COVID-19 per school population" on the GPS COVID-19 Schools Dashboard. This, again, is false and misleading. Unless the district is willing and able to mandate regular testing, this data will not be available. I would strongly recommend that you amend your verbiage to read "Percent of positive COVID-19 test results per weekly tests administered." It is statistically presumptuous and litigiously dangerous to assume that all students and staff who have not been tested are negative. If for no other reason than to "cover your ass" you need to amend this verbiage and stop pretending you know the percent of positive cases on any campus.

Unfortunately, you have been tasked with a job that you are not qualified for and never intended to do. For that, I am deeply empathetic and genuinely feel for you. Ultimately, you are going to make the decision you make, and as an employee, I am contractually bound to that decision. As a parent, however, I am not and never will be obligated to put my family or my community in danger. All I can do is ask that you are honest and communicate clearly with all stakeholders. You cannot continue to imply that you are following health recommendations or that you can accurately count the number of positive cases on any campus when both statements are patently false.
Public Comment 64

Submitted by: Cassio Mello

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Hello, I got four emails today - three stating that my son had classmates in three different periods/classes who tested positive for Covid and the fourth email to let me know that he was going full time back to school (i.e., in person) starting next week. That does not make sense. Obviously we are still battling the pandemic and at the same time opening the schools. Considering how easy it is to continue education online, I think it would make most sense to go that route.
Public Comment 65

Submitted by: Stacy Rigdon

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: I think it's very irresponsible to have full time instruction with the number of cases in Maricopa county as well as zip codes surrounding our district. They have shown Covid affects kids contrary to what people originally thought. In addition, with the new strain being 50% more contagious more people are contracting it, as well as studies showing teachers are contracting it from students. Although many people have received their first dose of the vaccine, this is not a solution as many are unable to schedule their 2nd and some are choosing not to get the vaccine at all because they are scared.
Public Comment 66

Submitted by: Alicia Bair

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I have attended your meetings, joined rallies, my 7 year old daughter has spoken to you, and I have emailed you countless times since July. Along with most people at this point, covid has infected our family. My parents were very ill and my dad was in the hospital. We know people personally that have died. Despite all of the realities of covid, this does not change what I've stood by since day one that children need to be in school full time. My 3 children are with GPS in elementary and, along with every other child in the district are now behind almost a year in their education. Other school districts like Higley and Queen Creek as well as most charter schools have been back full time since August and providing the education our children have the right to in our county. Our district has officially fallen behind. Despite teachers' best efforts in attempting online and hybrid teaching, my kids have spent this entire year trying to catch up to last year and refresh on what their teacher taught the last time they were in class. The at home days are a joke. They do a couple worksheets and that's it. They are not learning or progressing this year. I don't blame the teachers. I blame you, the board. 91茄子 Public Schools was once known for their exceptional education and teachers. I tell you this in all honesty coming from parents in other districts all over our state, and even other parts of the country, GPS is now known as a joke of a district that doesn't care what the students or parents want. We've lost hundreds of students and none plan to return. Three members of the board have refuse to listen to what the majority of the district families actually want. I cannot understand for the life of me why online was always an option but being in school wasn't. We voted in June and the majority wanted to be in school. Why even send a survey you have no interest in unless it fits your agenda? We just wanted the option! You didn't listen...repeatedly. We can't trust our votes to count. We can't trust our voices to be heard when we speak in meetings or send hundreds of emails. It's unbelievable. Now we find ourselves in an all too similar situation where you, the board, has voted on something that we didn't want...hybrid again. The vote was to stay in hybrid until the end of the month...or until the vaccine came out. Well the vaccine came out and there was no emergency meeting or discussion to go back to school full time before the end of the month like there should have been. Now there's a meeting right before the end of the month? If this meeting is like any of the other meetings, I would guess Jill and the union have more demands and benchmarks to meet before going back to school since the vaccine one has already been met. Well enough is enough. The governor has even said it, that our kids need to be back in school. We're not getting funding for all the kids we've lost over this. Our district is in trouble. The school board's job isn't to control or ensure everyone's health. It's to represent the district families' educational wants and needs. There should never be another meeting ever again to discuss if our kids should be able to go to school full time, be in sports, or the arts. The proof is in the past 11 months. You have your vaccine. It's time to move on with our lives and stop making excuses for teachers to not have to do their jobs. It's certainly time to stop putting the children's needs and education last. I think they've been through enough. The three board members that have ignored the educational and emotional needs of our children have done enough damage to our kids' education, future opportunities, and to our district as a whole. It's time to let our teachers do what made this district amazing in the first place and fix this mess you've created. They didn't sign up for this and neither did we. Please end this discussion for good and get our kids in school permanently.
Public Comment 67

Submitted by: Amanda Harless

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Thank you for allowing parents to submit comments online, there are plenty of us who are unable to or choose to not be in crowded locations at this time per CDC guidance. I have two elementary aged children, one third grader and one sixth grader, who normally attend Highland Park Elementary school. Currently, they are enrolled in the 91茄子 Global Academy. As we all have navigated through these unusual times the best we could, we chose virtual after the hybrid model was removed as an option. My children miss their friends, but according to most all experts we are not currently in a safe place to have in person learning. As I imagine, that simple sentence probably got sighs and eye rolls from about half the people reading this. But it's true. Not only can you look at guidance from the very top of the health community, to the state, down to me simply speaking with several pediatricians in the office my children go to. All say it isn't currently safe. Community spread needs to be controlled. Large gatherings, which schools are, contribute to the spread. Is that what you want to do? Because I can say with certainty that's not what we want. I currently have two family members in the ICU with covid and several others home sick with it. These people didn't just catch it by being reckless. They haven't been frequenting bars and night clubs, traveling the US, or licking shopping carts. They caught it from their COMMUNITY. If you can admit that our schools are part of our community, then you should understand that they contribute to the community. We hope for positive contributions, with educated graduates who strive to improve the world around them. But in this case, they can contribute negatively as well. You make choices and the parents and students take you at your word. If schools are opening full time, spread must not be bad. The board wouldn't go against guidance would they? These schools aren't islands.

My kids would love to be back in the classroom and I would love to be able to trust that you'll be able to put the health and wellbeing of our community first. As of now, I don't see it happening. We'll see.
Public Comment 68

Submitted by: Rochelle Reisner

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Why are we returning to full time instruction? My 80 year old parents and I ( public school employee) are unable to receive Covid vaccines ,That we qualify for. It is so frustrating to hear we will be starting full time instruction with no regard for the risk I am exposed to everyday.
Public Comment 69

Submitted by: Cindy Howard

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Dear Honorable Board Members and Dr. McCord,

I am a parent of a GPS high school student. I am extremely concerned about continued covid viral spread and the safety of GPS teachers, staff, students and families with our county's three metrics in "Red". I am writing to request that GPS schools remain in the A-L, M-Z hybrid attendance through at least February, for better social distancing in classrooms. This is necessary until Arizona gets a handle on covid infection rates via vaccines, verified by health department data. Currently, it is widely acknowledged that teachers in Maricopa County are experiencing difficulty with scheduling their second vaccine dose at the recommended 3-4 weeks. The need is far greater than the available supply for vaccines and many parents and children are not yet even eligible.

The Board may be aware that there are at least three additional higher-contagion covid variants in the US which are known to affect children and at least one variant is already circulating in Arizona. It is widely reported that hospital in-patient cases are rising significantly for children. On January 18th, ABC15 reported that "Data from the state’s largest hospital network [Banner] shows hospital admissions for COVID-19 pediatric patients for January is nearly six times higher than in October." Even more alarming is that research is showing that adults and children are showing pulmonary and vascular affects from covid infection, including asymptomatic exposure.

Regarding the GPS covid dashboard, it simply does not report asymptomatic and undiagnosed cases of covid which statistically would increase the actual infection rates on the dashboard. Therefore, it appears that data on the GPS covid dashboard is designed to justify in-student attendance with incomplete data from "positive" test results only.

Arizona now leads the nation in covid infection and county and state health department metrics well demonstrate that we are facing a significant and increasing public health crisis. Earlier this year the Board agreed to abide by recommendations supported by Maricopa County Health Department metric data. We are at a heightened crisis point now and I hope that the Board will abide by recommendations by our county's health department professionals.

Thank you for hearing my concerns and considering my request. And thank you for all you do to support our students and families during these unprecedented times.

Sincerely,
Cindy Howard
Public Comment 70

Submitted by: Meghann Sarnicki

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: We were told at the last meeting that you would consider reopening fully when "vaccines more made available to educators". You do realize that this is a 2 dose vaccine? Right?
As of Friday Jan. 22 GPS is still not a Point Of Distribution (POD) for vaccine candidates. Scheduling a vaccine appointment is still difficult and there is a real risk that there won't be enough vaccine for people ready for their 2nd dose. There is also no public data tracking how many GPS employees have received the vaccine. We cannot be ready to move from hybrid until we KNOW we are ready. GPS and the community at large are not ready for full, live instruction.
Numbers are as high as ever. Why would we reopen just because January is over??? This is an arbitrary and not data-based decision.
Public Comment 71

Submitted by: Sara Flaherty

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: True story: today I was officially notified from my school nurse that I was potentially exposed on the previous Thursday by a student in my class who tested positive to Covid-19. That means I was exposed on Thursday and was with my family (consisting of three children who attend GPS schools) for four days possibly exposing them unbeknownst to me.

To me this is a clear example of how Covid-19 spreads in schools no matter how many mitigation practices are being used. We are still in person and we still see students closer than 6 feet for more than 15 minutes even if we are trying not to. In my situation I work in an area where students are allowed to eat, meaning their masks are off. So again I say that even though there are mitigation strategies in place, it is unrealistic to think our schools are not places that spread COVID-19.

So even though the school I work at has a below percentage number on the GPS dashboard, I have been exposed and not notified for days ( no blame on our school nurse at all). But that should show that schools are really not able to be in person until COVID-19 is under control in our society because we can’t be protected while in a school.

Please reconsider your January 4th motion and put our schools in virtual to keep us from being exposed at school and passing on to our family.

Thank you.
Public Comment 72

Submitted by: greg johnson

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I believe questions need to be asked and a plan put in place to help all students regain credits and information on all subjects that has been lost without retaking the class over. I have witnessed a lack of proper instruction in the process of change. this in turn has led to a grave increase in the amount of failures and reasons for failures from previous years and this should not be placed on any of the students which I I have witnessed in my dealings with administration. I would be happy to discuss this further.thank you for your consideration.
Public Comment 73

Submitted by: Kim Clark

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am the parent to four elementary aged children who have switched to Global Academy in once school resumed in January. This wasn't an easy decision for our family and continues to be a difficult choice on many levels. My children who love school, their teachers and fun experiences on campus miss their normal routines. My first and second grade students cry almost daily because they either miss their teacher or learning at home is so much harder. My 5th and 6th grader have adjusted but are not as focused as they would be on campus. However, the rate of community spread has been so high we did not feel it was safe for them to continue to attend school on campus. While the dashboard shows their elementary school has had 11 cases on campus, this reporting is not accurate. Within the last two weeks I have been aware of a case that was diagnosed on a Tuesday and disappeared from the dashboard within the same week, making it impossible to have completed the quarantine period for a positive case. There have been many more active cases that have not shown up on the dashboard. This is not an accurate measure to determine whether students should be on campus at this time. We enrolled our children in their brick and mortar school at the beginning of the year after hearing the board assure us that the safety metrics would be followed, we felt comfortable that action would be taken to pull back when cases were high. However those promises have not been kept with the return to 5 day a week learning model, or even a hybrid model when all three metrics are deeply in the red. At a time that pediatric cases are surging, second dose vaccines are hard to come by for teachers and non-existent for most parents, hospitals that are full and cases that are through the roof, it is simply not safe to resume as if we had the same amount of active cases that we did in the fall. Please reconsider this plan, you will not please everybody, but may keep people safe and healthy with this decision. If a decision was made to remain in hybrid learning for the remainder of the third quarter, we would consider allowing our children to return to campus. This would help them emotionally as they have not seen friends or played with other children since November, they could see the teachers they adore, and get some hands on learning. It would allow more teachers time to be vaccinated as well to increase their safety in the classroom. Thank you for your time.
Public Comment 74

Submitted by: Sally J Gustafson

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: I am a Kindergarten teacher at SSE. I am thankful for my job and for the mitigation strategies that are currently in place.

I have significant concerns about returning to school with 100% of the students on campus daily. I do not have adequate space to provide social distancing with my current class size of 22 students. When students return on Monday, they will be less than 3 feet apart. My extra furniture has been pushed to the sides and corners of the classroom and in many areas is stacked. Our numbers have been steadily increasing which decreases the amount of room in an already snug area.

Arizona's COVID- 19 has been rampant for over a month, stores are packed, restaurants remain open, etc. I am doing all I can to stay healthy which includes not seeing my parents and siblings since February 2019. My husband, who works for a large insurance company, has been working from home for 10 months due to this virus. The company values their employees. I do not believe that GPS values their employees.
Public Comment 75

Submitted by: Christina Miranda

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I respectfully request the board to keep to a hybrid schedule for the rest of this school year. The changing of the schedule back and forth has been detrimental to many. Especially children that struggle with anxiety the constant changes week to week have been extremely taxing on them. Please stay with the current schedule at least. or offer parents an option to remain hybrid. Thank you for your consideration.
Public Comment 76

Submitted by: Justine Ingram

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am very concerned about the move to full time in person for secondary schools. My reasoning is that since the return from October break my junior high student has received 6 possible exposure notifications from his school. That is 2 a month and that is when he was mostly in hybrid learning. Every time I open one of those emails my heart races because his younger brother is already high risk. We have to fully clean our home and separate our children for a week every single time a get one of these notifications.
Now double the number of kids in his classroom and you are taking a possible exposure to a definite exposure because the space in the room the students can sit away from one another is now limited. Six possible exposures in three months is not evident of mitigation efforts working. It is evidence that they are not and if they are not then going back from hybrid is not a good option.
I do not want virtual learning for my eldest but I cannot risk full time learning for any of my students when we are already getting multiple exposure notifications during hybrid. Please consider extending hybrid learning for secondary schools until the community spread in 91茄子 is considerably less.

Thank you for all you do.
Public Comment 77

Submitted by: Kate Smith

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Hello, I would like to implore you to consider the metrics when making decisions for staff and students. I made my choice for myself and my children to be in person because I was guaranteed that the original metrics were going to be followed (I have the email if you'd like it). I'm sure that you all follow the news and have seen Arizona make WORLD headlines for being the number 1 hotspot for infection rates. Not only that, but we are now making headlines for being number 1 for pediatric covid hospitalizations (up 400%). We can't afford to only think about the mortality rate when making these heavy decisions. The MORBIDITIES of this virus has proven to be detrimental for people of all ages. So while a person may recover from the virus, it may be at a cost long term to their health.

Furthermore, I would also ask that if you are making decisions for my and my children's lives based on a report/letter received from Dr. Sunenshine, that you make that letter public (or accessible).

The GPS zip codes have not declined in numbers. Please use the metrics. The infection rate amongst school aged children is up to 18% since returning to school (versus around 7% when out on break). There is a direct correlation with in person schooling and the percent positive among our school aged children.

I realize you have a huge responsibility placed on you. People's lives. That is heavy. Wouldn't you rather do "too much" than too little when it comes to someone's life?

Please follow your word and use the metrics you originally said you would--trust matters.

Thank you.
Public Comment 78

Submitted by: Laurel Chipman

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: I believe with the current state of the region we are jumping back to full in person learning too soon for the following reasons: 1. youth numbers of Covid cases are still rising 2. vaccine #2 has more symptoms and teachers will be out of school with fevers, body aches etc and there are insufficient subs to cover their classes. 3. We have to look at the big picture and give parents, teachers, and students stability and a long term plan to ease work, childcare, and school expectations. A decision needs to be made from now until spring break and then from spring break until the end of the year with a commitment to consistency and without being changed every 2-3 weeks. The current m.o. is causing a great deal of anxiety and stress for all involved including board members, principals, those grieving the loss of loved ones, children and parents.
Public Comment 79

Submitted by: Nicole Zandri

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: First I must say your meetings are too long and counterproductive. I've attempted to watch them, but eventually see how everyone becomes tired and cranky and basically will agree to anything to make the meeting end. That is disheartening. It's sad. I can't even imagine how grueling it must be to know there is yet another meeting on the horizon, and the subject is still COVID and attendance. Second, from my perspective, the meetings regarding pandemic attendance are more of a snipe hunt than a meeting. I say that because there were metrics in place in the summer/fall, and when the metrics said students should remain virtual, the district changed the source of the metrics to accommodate in person attendance. Then, when those metrics said students should stay home, the district came up with its own metrics based on school positivity rates. Rumor states that some schools are not properly reporting cases - true or not, it is evident that in person attendance is the end goal of the district. So, why endure these pointless meetings? I received the email that full time attendance starts 2/1, so why even discuss the issue (for several hours...)? Finally, has GPS teamed up with a healthcare facility to vaccinate teachers on campuses? I was disappointed to her that school districts are doing this, but GPS was not named as one of them.
I also need to mention that I am not sure this division and indecisiveness is setting a good example for the students. As a community, as a district, we are supposed to lead by example and show students how to take charge and handle a crisis. I'm not sure long meetings and indecision is accomplishing that. Yes, this pandemic is unprecedented, but it has been a year, and we are still having the same conversation. I am not entirely sure of the purpose of the board, but it appears as though the final decisions rest with the board. So please, make the decision. Take responsibility for that decision - good or bad. And if that decision truly is to return to full time attendance, than please, make sure the mitigation strategies and protocols are adhered to, because rumor has it, they are not being followed. (just ask a student or teacher about the 'mask break') One more thing, my son attends Highland, but I'm not sure I represent Highland. These are my personal thoughts and opinions
Public Comment 81

Submitted by: Jacquelyn Kahldon

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Dear Board Members,
Keeping us in hybrid was a great decision and I am hoping you will consider keeping us on the hybrid schedule till Spring Break to give all of us teachers and administrators a chance to get vaccinated. Many of us are receiving our first dose now but we are not fully protected yet and I do not feel comfortable with 24 students daily and not able to distance. I understand what the parents want, I am a parent too, but with the positivity rate being as high as it is and still 5,000-9,000 cases a day it's just not safe to return all in-person at this time. Please consider the teachers and at least wait till we are vaccinated before returning to full time in-person so we are better prepared and feel safe while doing our job.
Thank You!
Public Comment 82
Public Comment 83

Submitted by: Marsha Lynch

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: My husband and I pulled our kids from their home school at the beginning of the year when you as the board decided to have the kids go full time in person. We have medical issues in our family so we needed to do what was right to keep our family safe. We are so grateful we did. Our kids are learning more in Global academy than those are in person. I know because I have checked with other parents. They do not worry if they will be with their teacher that day or home quarantined because of someone coming to school with Covid. I wish you guys would reconsider with moving to virtual as the health and safety of our teachers, staff and students should be number one. The dashboard is a lie. I have taken screenshots daily and the number changes are inaccurate. I know 3 kids who got it the same week, from a teacher and their numbers were not added to the board. Yes they were at school within 48 hours of symptoms and the mom reported it, why was it not on there. Plus the “resolved cases” number keep changing and going down, who in the world is adding and collecting this data? We need someone who can do it accurately. Virtual learning DOES work, just ask the many kids and their parents who are in it right now. My kids have NEVER done this well in school. With the right platform and training it can be done right and keep everyone safe. As number one in the world for cases you would think the right thing would be done to help bring those numbers down. If you as a parent or even as a member of the GPS community can’t stay home and not help with the community spread then you need to stop bringing it to school. Yes schools might not be the number one problem but until people realize that it’s what they do outside of school that effects what happens in school nothing is going to change. I am so disappointed in the selfish community we currently live in and the people in it. Do the right thing, think of others and keep people safe and healthy. Schools are not babysitters and all I hear from these parents who push for in school over the safety of others is “I don’t want to take care of my kids” please reconsider virtual and even going by the state dashboard vs the school one which is inaccurate.
Public Comment 84

Submitted by: Cristen Abrams

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am hoping that you will consider putting the well being and safety of our community first by continuing to have as many students learn virtually as possible. I am also hoping you will address the dilemma that my family and several others find ourselves in. We started the school year with a certain set of benchmarks and promises and find that it has gone in a totally different direction.

I have a senior and junior in high school. I have a 6th grader. Two of those students are in milestone years. They are both home learning virtually, and although I hoped they could return in person this school year, that is not happening. It is disappointing to have them miss graduations and events they have been looking forward to.

My junior goes to school for four classes. These classes: AP science, honors math, and band are not offered virtually. They are also classes that are important to his future. Our family is fairly low risk for covid complications. He is a very careful student, and the band directors have gone beyond expectations following science and best practices, so we decided to send him. We reassured ourselves that if the numbers got too high, there were measures in place to accommodate virtual learning or hybrid. We were told that absences would be less strictly enforced. We were told that prevention measures were in place.

This reassurance was broken when these schools decided to have in person learning in spite of extremely high (highest in the country or world) numbers of covid spread in the community. The dashboard has been shown to be a less than accurate indicator of actual covid in schools. Giving in to loud and bullying community pressure, the benchmarks were changed. Additionally, I witnessed many instances over the first half of the year of parents, students, and staff not taking covid seriously in many 91茄子 Schools. For example, football games were frightening with packed stands and very little mask compliance in spite of constant reminders. Elementary schools publicly posted pictures of unmasked kids, no distancing. I was attacked on social media for defending someone who suggested elementary school children get tested before school starts. Even some teachers would not enforce mask policies or didn't wear masks themselves. I know that there are many staff and administrators who are doing everything they can to enforce policies, but there is only so much that can be done. I can sympathize as it is part of my job, too, to enforce public covid prevention strategies.

This leaves my family and many others in a bind. The numbers have been unbelievably high for cases, hospitalizations and deaths. New studies have shown that not only can children be efficient spreaders of covid (contrary to what many believed earlier in this pandemic), but that a large majority of children, even those who have mild, barely perceptible cases, are still showing signs of physical damage to their hearts, lungs, blood vessels. We don't know how these will resolve. Adults show longterm effects as well some of which are debilitating and may never resolve. There have been too many deaths of educators and school staff across the country many of whom were healthy and young. 91茄子 Public Schools teachers have reportedly had a hard time getting vaccination appointments through the state or county, so a lot of them haven't even had their first doses yet and appointments are full through February.

My family is low risk. My son is very cautious. I've been vaccinated. Of course, I do not want covid to affect my family. More importantly, I do not want to increase the amount of covid spread in the community where there are others who will be affected greatly. Public health demands we do more to control the spread. New variants of the virus are surfacing all over the world and will certainly be affecting our state soon. These are proving to be significantly more contagious and some may present more dangerous symptoms in children. Our pediatric hospitals are already filling with covid patients. More severe effects would be devastating! We need to get this pandemic under control so close to a vaccinations, so close to the end. We don't need to lose or injure more people. This school year is not salvageable. It's not going to be a normal year for anyone, anywhere in the country.
But to continue to have in person education when we demonstrably cannot enforce safe guidelines and where those guidelines are becoming more restricted with stronger viruses is a very dangerous decision.

Safety needs to be the priority. Stress, abuse, lonliness are exacerbated by the overall unreast and conflict in our country. However, the lack of stability in switching learning models back and forth or forcing students like my son to drop classes at this point in the year, are far more stressful. Childcare issues and working parents need to be accounted for, but there are safe and controlled ways to do that that will also allow us to get more control over this pandemic. Children will learn at home. Children will catch up next year and the year after. Just like in other troubling times in human history, we need to adapt to the now, survive, then pick up the pieces and repair ourselves. I want as many of us as possible to be around to do that. Death and injury is permanent. These hardships are not. Please consider keeping as many students and teachers as possible virtual and revert back to more reasonable, science based benchmarks that we began the school year with.
Public Comment 85

Submitted by: Amanda Shaffer

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Hello Board Members,

I am a mother of three, I have children at Ashland Ranch and South Valley Jr High. I am very frustrated. Trust me when I say I want my kids at school, but ONLY when it is SAFE. I know the tricky part about this situation, is everyone has a different opinion on it. This is why I beg you to take the opinion out of it, look at the county metrics as you said you would when you all made us make a choice. With our COVID cases being higher than we have seen, I ask why send all of these innocent children into a “war zone?” I am disheartened. The fact that GPSD is sending an email the night before a board meeting telling us the kids ARE all going back full time, then to find that covid response and covid mitigation’s are not even an action item for tonight’s meeting is beyond appalling. I have watched every meeting, I see the struggle between the board. I feel multiple members have been strong handed and forced onto a side they are not comfortable with with no give from the other side. After what seemed like a very casual way in which our district health professional seemed to address parent and board concerns at the last meeting, there’s no wonder that there seems to be lack of consistency in mask wearing, protocols for when children should stay home, reporting and more from school to school. I’d urge you to invite a professional from the county to advise you on direction rather then someone who can’t properly wear a mask. I ask again please use our county metrics.I will end on this... I do not trust our reporting system at GPSD, My oldest daughter had a horrible cough, was very tired, had a slight fever, I called her in sick, pushed 1 to alert the nurse she would be out due to covid like symptoms. When she called back I told her I was getting my daughter tested as we spoke. The nurse never again followed up, I sent my daughter back the next school day, her test was negative (we paid for the rapid) but the nurse did not know that. My daughter wasn’t questioned, I wasn’t called. That test could’ve been positive and there would have been no action and no response she would’ve spread it like wild fire. I know I’m not the only parent that has had a situation like this. I URGE and DEMAND our schools to be better and that starts with better leadership. Stop the spread, follow the county metrics.

Thank you.
Public Comment 86

Submitted by: Kimberly Updegraff

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am writing to ask for fourth actions from the GPS board. First, please clarify why you committed to following the metrics set forth by AZDHS and then abandoned these metrics with no explanation. It is a minimum expectation to the community you serve that you provide transparency in your decisions. In particularly, I ask that board members Carr, Santa Cruz, and Humphreys to explain this as they all committed to following the metrics and then reversed that decision. Mrs. Ugetti is the only board member who has remained firm in her commitment to the metrics and science.

Second, I also ask you to demonstrate the level of professionalism that you expect of teachers and educators, and this requires following the science (of long-established experts) and providing accurate data. You expect no less from your teachers, yet you have failed to provide an accurate and reliable dashboard on which to make decisions. Mr Carr, you asked at the last meeting why people do not trust the dashboard. I hope you have since come to understand, but there are repeated cases where parents fail to report (and the information later comes from the county), that cases are not included, and that we (as parents) are not notified when one of our children’s teachers has fallen sick with COVID while teaching in person. How can we possibly trust the dashboard or your reliance on it?

Third, I ask that you insist on respectful behavior from the adults who attend the board meeting. These meetings are broadly watched in the community. In the recent meetings, I have observed parents and community members (every single of one of them in a green shirt) behaving in unprofessional and disrespectful ways that are captured on the livestream. From the most recent meeting, I watched a parent throw tantrums when she disagreed with the speaker and a father who put his finger to his head and pretended to shoot himself when he disagreed with a speaker. Is this the kind of civic engagement we want to model for our young people who are both in attendance and watching online? I believe that you have a responsibility as the board to demand respectful and professional behavior, and this includes no cheering and clapping in the middle of speeches, and allowing the board members to monitor the time of each speaker and asking those who behave unprofessionally to leave. I would further recommend that you re-position the camera so that those adults behind the speaker are not publicly broad cast. Truly, it is embarrassing to be a member of a community where adults believe this is appropriate and it is tolerated and even encouraged by two of our board members (Carr, Wood). We expect better of our high school students than we do of parents who attend the board meeting in person.

Finally, I ask that you make responsible learning decisions with consideration of our community spread. As I am sure you are aware, we are #1 in the nation for community spread, having surpassed California this week. We also have had an alarming increase in hospitalizations of children under 18 (a 4000% increase from June until November). Although you seem to have made your decision to open based on surrounding districts, you have failed to implement strong mitigation strategies, offer a vaccination site in the district dedicated to the educators (like Mesa has done), or offer covid testing (like Chandler has done). Please demonstrate regard for the lives of our educators, young people, and community and make an informed decision based on real data and science. I implore you to do so.
Public Comment 87

Submitted by: Paul Kostura

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am appalled by the GPS governing board placing more emphasis on the operating budget and the health status of teachers and GPS staff- than the safety of the children and their families. The students haven’t had vaccinations be offered to them. This will not happen until the Phase 2- General Population (projected Mid-March 2021) shots are available. The governing board only displays empathy towards the teachers being safe and vaccinated and is only worried about their financial situation.

Your statistics of 2% positive tests per elementary school mean nothing to me. The public static’s are what you should be referring to and going off of. One child lost is too many (but you don’t seem to care). The hospitals are full of COVID-19 positive patients. AZ has the highest number of positive COVID-19 tests in the country. Your at risk of more children calling in sick due to the virus than you are of them not doing so. If you thought about it, you’d realize that you appear to be extremely concerned about yourselves and not the children nor their families. It’s all about your revenues from in-person attendance and your staff members that you’re concerned about. We are stakeholders too and our health and financial matters matter as well.

I ask that all students go to online learning or stay in hybrid learning until the vaccinations are available to the general public. It should also be required that all students receive a vaccination unless a physician deems otherwise. This is a virus that causes more lung damage than vaping.
Public Record 80

Submitted by: Wende Fiandaca

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Dear Governing Board and Superintendent McCord:
Thank you for giving parents notice yesterday that 91茄子 Public Schools will return to full-time, in-person education Monday 2/1/2021.
I am hopeful that this will indeed hold true, especially for my senior who has yet to surpass 50% in-person education this school year.
I encourage you to follow through and return to the full-time live instruction model on 2/1/2021 and continue with it until the end of the school year for the majority of GPS families who selected this option at the beginning of the school year. Of course, please leave the option for families who do not wish this model to continue to choose hybrid or online. But I as a parent appreciate having the full-time live instruction option become a reality for the second semester.
Thank you for your time,
Wende Fiandaca

Public Comment 81

Submitted by: Jacquelyn Kahldon

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Dear Board Members,
Keeping us in hybrid was a great decision and I am hoping you will consider keeping us on the hybrid schedule till Spring Break to give all of us teachers and administrators a chance to get vaccinated. Many of us are receiving our first dose now but we are not fully protected yet and I do not feel comfortable with 24 students daily and not able to distance. I understand what the parents want, I am a parent too, but with the positivity rate being as high as it is and still 5,000-9,000 cases a day it's just not safe to return all in-person at this time. Please consider the teachers and at least wait till we are vaccinated before returning to full time in-person so we are better prepared and feel safe while doing our job.
Thank You!
Public Comment 82
Public Comment 83

Submitted by: Marsha Lynch

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: My husband and I pulled our kids from their home school at the beginning of the year when you as the board decided to have the kids go full time in person. We have medical issues in our family so we needed to do what was right to keep our family safe. We are so grateful we did. Our kids are learning more in Global academy than those are in person. I know because I have checked with other parents. They do not worry if they will be with their teacher that day or home quarantined because of someone coming to school with Covid. I wish you guys would reconsider with moving to virtual as the health and safety of our teachers, staff and students should be number one. The dashboard is a lie. I have taken screenshots daily and the number changes are inaccurate. I know 3 kids who got it the same week, from a teacher and their numbers were not added to the board. Yes they were at school within 48 hours of symptoms and the mom reported it, why was it not on there. Plus the “resolved cases” number keep changing and going down, who in the world is adding and collecting this data? We need someone who can do it accurately. Virtual learning DOES work, just ask the many kids and their parents who are in it right now. My kids have NEVER done this well in school. With the right platform and training it can be done right and keep everyone safe. As number one in the world for cases you would think the right thing would be done to help bring those numbers down. If you as a parent or even as a member of the GPS community can’t stay home and not help with the community spread then you need to stop bringing it to school. Yes schools might not be the number one problem but until people realize that it’s what they do outside of school that effects what happens in school nothing is going to change. I am so disappointed in the selfish community we currently live in and the people in it. Do the right thing, think of others and keep people safe and healthy. Schools are not babysitters and all I hear from these parents who push for in school over the safety of others is “I don’t want to take care of my kids” please reconsider virtual and even going by the state dashboard vs the school one which is inaccurate.
Public Comment 84

Submitted by: Cristen Abrams

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am hoping that you will consider putting the well being and safety of our community first by continuing to have as many students learn virtually as possible. I am also hoping you will address the dilemma that my family and several others find ourselves in. We started the school year with a certain set of benchmarks and promises and find that it has gone in a totally different direction.

I have a senior and junior in high school. I have a 6th grader. Two of those students are in milestone years. They are both home learning virtually, and although I hoped they could return in person this school year, that is not happening. It is disappointing to have them miss graduations and events they have been looking forward to.

My junior goes to school for four classes. These classes: AP science, honors math, and band are not offered virtually. They are also classes that are important to his future. Our family is fairly low risk for covid complications. He is a very careful student, and the band directors have gone beyond expectations following science and best practices, so we decided to send him. We reassured ourselves that if the numbers got too high, there were measures in place to accommodate virtual learning or hybrid. We were told that absences would be less strictly enforced. We were told that prevention measures were in place.

This reassurance was broken when these schools decided to have in person learning in spite of extremely high (highest in the country or world) numbers of covid spread in the community. The dashboard has been shown to be a less than accurate indicator of actual covid in schools. Giving in to loud and bullying community pressure, the benchmarks were changed. Additionally, I witnessed many instances over the first half of the year of parents, students, and staff not taking covid seriously in many 91茄子 Schools. For example, football games were frightening with packed stands and very little mask compliance in spite of constant reminders. Elementary schools publicly posted pictures of unmasked kids, no distancing. I was attacked on social media for defending someone who suggested elementary school children get tested before school starts. Even some teachers would not enforce mask policies or didn't wear masks themselves. I know that there are many staff and administrators who are doing everything they can to enforce policies, but there is only so much that can be done. I can sympathize as it is part of my job, too, to enforce public covid prevention strategies.

This leaves my family and many others in a bind. The numbers have been unbelievably high for cases, hospitalizations and deaths. New studies have shown that not only can children be efficient spreaders of covid (contrary to what many believed earlier in this pandemic), but that a large majority of children, even those who have mild, barely perceptible cases, are still showing signs of physical damage to their hearts, lungs, blood vessels. We don't know how these will resolve. Adults show longterm effects as well some of which are debilitating and may never resolve. There have been too many deaths of educators and school staff across the country many of whom were healthy and young. 91茄子 Public Schools teachers have reportedly had a hard time getting vaccination appointments through the state or county, so a lot of them haven't even had their first doses yet and appointments are full through February.

My family is low risk. My son is very cautious. I've been vaccinated. Of course, I do not want covid to affect my family. More importantly, I do not want to increase the amount of covid spread in the community where there are others who will be affected greatly. Public health demands we do more to control the spread. New variants of the virus are surfacing all over the world and will certainly be affecting our state soon. These are proving to be significantly more contagious and some may present more dangerous symptoms in children. Our pediatric hospitals are already filling with covid patients. More severe effects would be devastating! We need to get this pandemic under control so close to a vaccinations, so close to the end. We don't need to lose or injure more people. This school year is not salvageable. It's not going to be a normal year for anyone, anywhere in the country.
But to continue to have in person education when we demonstrably cannot enforce safe guidelines and where those guidelines are becoming more restricted with stronger viruses is a very dangerous decision.

Safety needs to be the priority. Stress, abuse, lonliness are exacerbated by the overall unreast and conflict in our country. However, the lack of stability in switching learning models back and forth or forcing students like my son to drop classes at this point in the year, are far more stressful. Childcare issues and working parents need to be accounted for, but there are safe and controlled ways to do that that will also allow us to get more control over this pandemic. Children will learn at home. Children will catch up next year and the year after. Just like in other troubling times in human history, we need to adapt to the now, survive, then pick up the pieces and repair ourselves. I want as many of us as possible to be around to do that. Death and injury is permanent. These hardships are not. Please consider keeping as many students and teachers as possible virtual and revert back to more reasonable, science based benchmarks that we began the school year with.
Public Comment 85

Submitted by: Amanda Shaffer

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Hello Board Members,

I am a mother of three, I have children at Ashland Ranch and South Valley Jr High. I am very frustrated. Trust me when I say I want my kids at school, but ONLY when it is SAFE. I know the tricky part about this situation, is everyone has a different opinion on it. This is why I beg you to take the opinion out of it, look at the county metrics as you said you would when you all made us make a choice. With our COVID cases being higher than we have seen, I ask why send all of these innocent children into a “war zone?” I am disheartened. The fact that GPSD is sending an email the night before a board meeting telling us the kids ARE all going back full time, then to find that covid response and covid mitigation’s are not even an action item for tonight’s meeting is beyond appalling. I have watched every meeting, I see the struggle between the board. I feel multiple members have been strong handed and forced onto a side they are not comfortable with with no give from the other side. After what seemed like a very casual way in which our district health professional seemed to address parent and board concerns at the last meeting, there’s no wonder that there seems to be lack of consistency in mask wearing, protocols for when children should stay home, reporting and more from school to school. I’d urge you to invite a professional from the county to advise you on direction rather then someone who can’t properly wear a mask. I ask again please use our county metrics.I will end on this... I do not trust our reporting system at GPSD, My oldest daughter had a horrible cough, was very tired, had a slight fever, I called her in sick, pushed 1 to alert the nurse she would be out due to covid like symptoms. When she called back I told her I was getting my daughter tested as we spoke. The nurse never again followed up, I sent my daughter back the next school day, her test was negative (we paid for the rapid) but the nurse did not know that. My daughter wasn’t questioned, I wasn’t called. That test could’ve been positive and there would have been no action and no response she would’ve spread it like wild fire. I know I’m not the only parent that has had a situation like this. I URGE and DEMAND our schools to be better and that starts with better leadership. Stop the spread, follow the county metrics.

Thank you.
Public Comment 86

Submitted by: Kimberly Updegraff

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am writing to ask for fourth actions from the GPS board. First, please clarify why you committed to following the metrics set forth by AZDHS and then abandoned these metrics with no explanation. It is a minimum expectation to the community you serve that you provide transparency in your decisions. In particularly, I ask that board members Carr, Santa Cruz, and Humphreys to explain this as they all committed to following the metrics and then reversed that decision. Mrs. Ugetti is the only board member who has remained firm in her commitment to the metrics and science.

Second, I also ask you to demonstrate the level of professionalism that you expect of teachers and educators, and this requires following the science (of long-established experts) and providing accurate data. You expect no less from your teachers, yet you have failed to provide an accurate and reliable dashboard on which to make decisions. Mr Carr, you asked at the last meeting why people do not trust the dashboard. I hope you have since come to understand, but there are repeated cases where parents fail to report (and the information later comes from the county), that cases are not included, and that we (as parents) are not notified when one of our children’s teachers has fallen sick with COVID while teaching in person. How can we possibly trust the dashboard or your reliance on it?

Third, I ask that you insist on respectful behavior from the adults who attend the board meeting. These meetings are broadly watched in the community. In the recent meetings, I have observed parents and community members (every single of one of them in a green shirt) behaving in unprofessional and disrespectful ways that are captured on the livestream. From the most recent meeting, I watched a parent throw tantrums when she disagreed with the speaker and a father who put his finger to his head and pretended to shoot himself when he disagreed with a speaker. Is this the kind of civic engagement we want to model for our young people who are both in attendance and watching online? I believe that you have a responsibility as the board to demand respectful and professional behavior, and this includes no cheering and clapping in the middle of speeches, and allowing the board members to monitor the time of each speaker and asking those who behave unprofessionally to leave. I would further recommend that you re-position the camera so that those adults behind the speaker are not publicly broad cast. Truly, it is embarrassing to be a member of a community where adults believe this is appropriate and it is tolerated and even encouraged by two of our board members (Carr, Wood). We expect better of our high school students than we do of parents who attend the board meeting in person.

Finally, I ask that you make responsible learning decisions with consideration of our community spread. As I am sure you are aware, we are #1 in the nation for community spread, having surpassed California this week. We also have had an alarming increase in hospitalizations of children under 18 (a 4000% increase from June until November). Although you seem to have made your decision to open based on surrounding districts, you have failed to implement strong mitigation strategies, offer a vaccination site in the district dedicated to the educators (like Mesa has done), or offer covid testing (like Chandler has done). Please demonstrate regard for the lives of our educators, young people, and community and make an informed decision based on real data and science. I implore you to do so.
Public Comment 87

Submitted by: Paul Kostura

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am appalled by the GPS governing board placing more emphasis on the operating budget and the health status of teachers and GPS staff- than the safety of the children and their families. The students haven’t had vaccinations be offered to them. This will not happen until the Phase 2- General Population (projected Mid-March 2021) shots are available. The governing board only displays empathy towards the teachers being safe and vaccinated and is only worried about their financial situation.

Your statistics of 2% positive tests per elementary school mean nothing to me. The public static’s are what you should be referring to and going off of. One child lost is too many (but you don’t seem to care). The hospitals are full of COVID-19 positive patients. AZ has the highest number of positive COVID-19 tests in the country. Your at risk of more children calling in sick due to the virus than you are of them not doing so. If you thought about it, you’d realize that you appear to be extremely concerned about yourselves and not the children nor their families. It’s all about your revenues from in-person attendance and your staff members that you’re concerned about. We are stakeholders too and our health and financial matters matter as well.

I ask that all students go to online learning or stay in hybrid learning until the vaccinations are available to the general public. It should also be required that all students receive a vaccination unless a physician deems otherwise. This is a virus that causes more lung damage than vaping.
Public Comment 88
Public Comment 89

Submitted by: Richard Brooks

Live or Work in the District: No

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Please consider permanent discontinuation of hybrid learning. It is imperative that 91茄子 public schools students return to the classroom full-time as soon as possible. “Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice“ according to the Great Barrington Declaration signed by over 40,000 medical practitioners and over 13,000 medical & public health scientists. The students, at their ages, are not considered “vulnerable population.” The negative implications of not being in the classroom 5 days/week, including depression and loss of educational opportunity, are far more threatening than the impact of Covid on these students. Providing educational opportunity to our youth is an essential function of the school board. Expecting our teachers to maintain this while managing two mediums, in person and online, is unreasonable and will potentially exacerbate the current shortage of teachers.

I implore you to permanently restore full-time learning 5 days/week.
Public Comment 90

Submitted by: Michelle Cronin

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: Dear Board members, I appreciate that our schools remain Hybrid scheduled until all/majority of staff have completed their second dose of the Covid19 Vaccination.
The Hybrid schedule allows the safest way to keep our students separated and our staff safe. It’s too early to bring on all students at this time with new variations of the Covid19 virus spreading. Meantime, there’s still families not reporting they have COVID and send the students to school with symptoms.
I hope you can help us stay safe and healthy while waiting for our vaccinations to be completed. Thankfully, Michelle Cronin.
Public Comment 91

Submitted by: Pam Walton

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: Yes

Comment: I am in favor of in-person school when possible. After making an inquiry, I was informed that were dozens of Covid cases over the 2 weeks of winter break that are not on the dashboard and that there are also nearly three dozen 35 cases besides that which are not on the dashboard because they were not on campus 48 hours prior as recommended by the Maricopa County Health Department. I am not sure of the logic of only using the dashboard for determining the school learning model when the dashboard doesn’t capture all that is happening in our teacher and student community. Plus the dashboard doesn’t reflect all the parents who don’t report their kids when they have Covid symptoms or when they don’t choose to have their children tested. I think we need to examine the whole picture with community numbers and not solely use a dashboard that cannot be fully accurate due to the parents not reporting things or the lag in getting the info from county. So please do your best to analyze if the hybrid model has helped reduce exposures and if it has, please consider extending it. I think this will mainly affect high schools. I don’t like hybrid very much but I want us to be responsible and analytical when making decisions and the dashboard has limitations and should not be the only metric used. Also I think that the dashboard should reflect ALL the resolved Covid cases on campus whether they were initially qualified to be listed on the dashboard or not. This will give the community an idea of Covid’s actual impact.
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Public Comment 92

Submitted by: Jessica

Live or Work in the District: Yes

Child(ren) attending a GPS school: No

Comment: This is an absolute outrage and disgust to see the true colors of how this board view educators and the harm they are putting us through. To go based on facts let us look at the numbers surrendering 91茄子. The numbers don't even need to brought up once you see the area covered in red! To think that people really don't care about not only our health but the kids and family's this could effect. Our goal is to stop the spread, please inform me of how this is happening? Because apparently with my Masters I must be a complete fool to not understand this basic concept. If full time for all students continue you will see a great lost on many aspects. It would be wise of you to rethink your decision before Monday comes.

Last Modified on June 1, 2021

91茄子

Public Comments - 01/26/2021 Governing Board Meeting

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